Border Patrol

CALEXICO - United States Border Patrol agents arrested two gang members trying to illegally enter the U.S. in separate incidents Sunday, according to a press release. Around 12 a.m., agents saw a 26-year-old Mexican national enter the U.S. illegally, and they stopped him before he entered a neighborhood east of downtown Calexico. Agents determined that the man is an active gang member out of Riverside with an extensive criminal history related to gang activity and already sentenced to more than 24 months in prison.

IMPERIAL - Lauren Ripley, 7, giggled as an El Centro Sector Border Patrol agent asked her name, age, weight and whether she has any tattoos as she was fingerprinted during a mock exercise activity Friday morning. Ripley is one of about 35 children between the ages of 4 and 17 who have been participating in a summer camp offered to children of El Centro Sector Border Patrol employees over the past seven weeks. It's the first year for the eight-week summer program that will culminate next week with a pool party at Naval Air Facility El Centro.

CALEXICO - Officials here are concerned that actions by El Centro Sector U.S. Border Patrol agents endangered citizens as well as city employees during a shooting at the Calexico downtown Port of Entry on Monday. Agents pursuing a vehicle suspected to be involved in illegal immigrant smuggling threw down tire spikes in front of the car as it headed toward Mexico and then shot multiple rounds at the car, causing it to catch fire. One of the occupants was wounded, and all three occupants were arrested.

CALEXICO --- U.S. Border Patrol agents uncovered this week a convicted felon with a past history of felony sex crimes among a group of undocumented immigrants caught trying to illegally cross the border, according to a press release. Agents working near the east Port of Entry early Tuesday arrested a group of five undocumented aliens and when they were brought in for processing at the Border Patrol station it was discovered that one of them was a convicted sex offender who had been previously deported, the statement read.

CALEXICO - Border Patrol agents seized 238 pounds of marijuana valued at more than $190,000 after apprehending two men swimming across the All-American Canal with backpacks filled with the drugs Tuesday evening. With the use of a remote video surveillance system, Border Patrol agents assigned to the Calexico station saw the two men, both Mexican citizens ages 39 and 47, trying to swim while towing large backpacks around 7 p.m., according to a press release. The men appeared to be having difficulty swimming with the large backpacks, and one abandoned his pack and swam to the north bank of the canal.

More information has been released about the blaze that destroyed a motor home and three quarters of the Border Patrol checkpoint near Palo Verde on Sunday evening. A trailer fire at the Border Patrol inspection area on Highway 78 was reported at 4 p.m., according to the California Highway Patrol traffic incident information page. “The fire from there went into the building,” said an Imperial County firefighter who was on scene Sunday and declined to give her name.

OCOTILLO --- A Mexican national who was wanted on a 2005 murder warrant out of Colorado was arrested as he was among six people caught allegedly trying to illegally enter the U.S. from Mexico, a press statement read. U.S. Border Patrol agents Sunday caught the group in Ocotillo and later identified 48-year-old Raul Ramirez-Perez during a records check, the press statement reported. Ramirez was deported from the U.S. in 1995 before a warrant from Montrose County in Colorado issued 10 years later for the charges of assault and murder, the statement read.

We would like to know what can be done about our bad neighbor, Border Patrol. Those of us that live near them are going without sleep. They have buses running down our street at all hours of the day and night. They sit outside of the gate on 14th Street and honk their horns, run the buses and gas us out. They sometimes line up two or three buses at a time. They have ruined the street. We have tried to talk to “people in charge” about using the gate off of Imperial Avenue, and have been told that they are “trying to fix it.” They used to go in and out off of Imperial Avenue.

SEELEY --- Authorities received an 8:13 p.m. call today about a collision on Highway 98 involving an All Terrain Vehicle and a patrol car both operated by members of the U.S. Border Patrol. The California Highway Patrol's Web site reported that the crash occurred west of Drew Road. It was not immediately known at press time.

CALEXICO - El Centro Border Patrol agents assisted a man who had illegally entered the country and was suffering from heat distress west of Calexico Monday afternoon. El Centro Sector agents on patrol found the 49-year-old man from Mexico about 12 miles west of downtown Calexico around 4:45 p.m., according to a press release. The agent requested emergency medical services for the man who was treated and then transported to El Centro Regional Medical Center. Once released from the hospital, agents determined that the man was illegally in the country, and he was transported to the El Centro Border Patrol station for processing and further evaluation.

CAMPO - A soft breeze touched those gathered high atop a hill by the international border fence where Border Patrol Agent Robert Rosas was tragically killed in 2009 while on patrol. Family, friends and supporters came to begin the fourth annual Border Patrol Agent Robert Rosas Memorial Relay Run that began in Campo early Tuesday evening and was set to end this morning at Evergreen Cemetery where the El Centro native is buried. More than 60 people including agents from the San Diego and El Centro sectors participated in the all-night 68-mile run, in which a group does a memorial mile at the beginning and end before splitting off for the smaller 2.55-mile segments in honor of Rosas' call sign.

CALEXICO - Children excitedly shrieked as they launched water balloons at each other and U.S. Border Patrol agents during the El Centro Sector's second annual summer camp for employee families Friday. More than 65 children are attending this year's five-week camp which ends next Friday, nearly double from the number that attended last year's inaugural camp. The camp is offered to children in immediate families of El Centro Sector Border Patrol employees. In the camp, the children do a wide variety of activities that include dancing Zumba, learning about nutrition and heat awareness, having a water balloon fight, learning basic defensive tactics, playing tug-a-rope and visiting with animals in the sector's horse patrol and canine units.

U.S. Border Patrol agents assigned to the Calexico station arrested three men Monday who allegedly attempted to smuggle 137.3 pounds of marijuana on their backs into the United States. The drugs had an estimated street value of $109,840, according to a press release from the El Centro Sector Office. The incident occurred at approximately 10:45 p.m., when an agent detected four people thought to be in the country illegally walking north from the international border fence toward Interstate 8. Three of the men had large bundles strapped to their backs.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office of Air and Marine and El Centro Sector Border Patrol agents worked together to rescue a distressed man who had lost his way while making an attempt to illegally enter the United States. The incident occurred about 5:30 a.m. this morning, when Border Patrol dispatch received a call from the California Highway Patrol regarding an individual in distress that was lost in the mountainous area south of Jacumba, according to a press release from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

On Friday morning, El Centro Sector Border Patrol agents assigned to the Indio Station apprehended a suspected narcotics smuggler at the Highway 86 checkpoint and seized 25 pounds of methamphetamine. The incident occurred about 5 a.m., when a 54-year-old male approached the Border Patrol checkpoint located between Westmorland and Salton City. A canine team alerted to the vehicle, a 1995 Isuzu Trooper, which was subsequently referred to secondary inspection. Upon further investigation, agents discovered six packages of methamphetamine concealed within the vehicle.

CALEXICO - U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested a known member of the “Surenos 13” gang this morning. Around 9:30 a.m., agents arrested Mexican national Jose Ismael Herrera-Rodriguez, 26, after he illegally entered the country nine miles west of the Calexico downtown Port of Entry, according to a press release. Agents later determined he is a member of the “Surenos 13" gang, a criminal organization out of Santa Barbara. He also has an extensive criminal history and had previously been deported.

CALEXICO - A subject hunting frogs frightened a Calexico resident, according to Imperial Valley Sheriff's Office logs. The reporting party said they saw flashlights and heard dogs barking at about 11:28 p.m. Friday, according to the logs. Border Patrol arrived at the scene at 11:43 p.m. and made contact with the person in question, according to the logs. The subject informed the Border Patrol they were merely hunting for frogs in the area, according to the logs. Woman with baby knocks on doors SALTON CITY - A woman allegedly carried her 6-month-old baby around residences while knocking on doors, according to the Imperial Valley Sheriff's logs.